At the end of the pump era, Sterlings were a highly respected UK import. Their valve system combined the stacked tube layout and poppet valve of Sheridan paintguns with a rear facing hammer which carried its own sear similar to a Nelson.

The Stingray broke a price barrier as the first semiauto under $200 retail when introduced by Canadian paintgun manufacturer Brass Eagle. When first introduced, the durability of its polymer shell was demonstrated in Action Pursuit Games magazine by running it over with a monster truck. After the purchase of Brass Eagle by airgun giant Daisy, production levels and mass merchant sales volume brought the price to around $100. With a low price tag, and widespread availability the Stingray found a special place with shade tree airsmiths who could easily drill and cut the polymer bodies with few dollars at risk.

The Super Nova ET was the top of the Nova line which began with the Nova 700. This paintgun operated at low pressures, with a bottom-line mounted regulator, and radially symetical spool valve. Rather than using a bolt, pneumatic pressure cause the Nova's barrel to move back into the receiver surrounding the paintball before firing. The ET version featured an electronic trigger. Because all of the Nova's timing was handled pneumatically, the electronics consisted of a trigger switch, safe/fire/load switch, battery, and solenoid valve - no circuit board was needed in the design.

Developed by Brian Sullivan and distributed by PMI, the Trracer was the defacto standard low cost pump paintgun of the early 90s. Based on the Nelson valve design, the Trracer simplified things by using a pump rod that slid through the front of the grip frame and hooked into the bolt, rather than using pump arms and bolts from the sides.

The VM-68, or Virtual Machine was produced by Sheridan and distributed by PMI. Very popular as one of the early reliable gravity fed semis, it also had a reputation related to its recoil and significant weight. A rather mechanically complex sear arrangement made trigger maintenance a job not for the faint-hearted.

The Vector M1 is a part for part duplicate of the Viper M1 paintball gun. It features excellent cold weather operation on CO2 and is manufactured and marketed by the sub-contractor which builds parts for the Viper M1.

The Viper M1 set itself apart from other Illustrator style blowback semis with its integrated expansion chamber. The expansion chamber set the CO2 tank at an angle to prevent the feeding of liquid CO2, and was fused to the receiver to maximize heat exchange with the gas allowing reliable cold weather operation on CO2.

Few paintguns have inspired many variations the Autococker from Worr Game Products. In the 1980s Budd Orr built the Sniper - an aluminum bodied stacked tube paintgun built around the internals and grip from from a PGP paint pistol. In the 1990s Orr added pneumatic operation to the front block so that the Autococker could pump itself with a two step trigger pull. The first portion of the trigger pull releases the hammer from the sear to fire the shot, then as the trigger is pulled farther, the pneumatics are actuated to recock the paintgun for the next shot. In the new millennium the addition of electropneumatic control has allowed modern 'cockers to have electronic timing control and higher rates of fire.

The MegaZ and Z-1 from Montneel utilized a modular construction with cartridge based valves, and unlike most paintguns were built to operate well on liquid CO2. Most Zs used the same barrel threading as line SI Bushmaster pump paintguns, though the Megas sported an innovative pin-lock system for faster barrel removal. A number of Z clones came out under different names including the AK1 Avenger, Boxer, Checkmate, Black Knight and others.